Ferrari will not appoint an official reserve driver in 2012, the famous Italian team has confirmed.
The Maranello based team’s former reserve, Jules Bianchi, has stepped up to the Friday role at Force India.

Also on Ferrari’s books are Davide Rigon, Giancarlo Fisichella and Marc Gene.

But in the event Felipe Massa or Fernando Alonso are unable to race at any point this season, Ferrari will “take one of the drivers who are running around the paddock”, a spokesman told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

“Last year we saw that Pedro de la Rosa was there and ready to go when Sergio Perez needed to be replaced at Sauber,” the source added.

For example, it is believed ousted Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari accepted the full-time radio co-commentary role with the BBC in the hope he will be needed by a team at some point this year.

Mercedes, too, will not have its official reserve – Sam Bird – on site throughout the long 2012 season.

“It makes little sense with the test limits to pay for an experienced test driver full-time,” explained Norbert Haug.

Felipe Massa has dismissed suggestions he has lost some of his edge after returning to formula one from serious injury.
The Brazilian, after almost clinching the 2008 title and initially leading Ferrari alongside Kimi Raikkonen in 2009, missed most of the second half of last season after his horror qualifying accident in Hungary.

So far in 2010, the 29-year-old has usually struggled for pace relative to the sister F10 driven by Fernando Alonso, and is 31 points behind his Spanish teammate.

But when asked if there is a link between his crash last year and his slump in form, Massa is quoted by Brazil’s Globo: “They are separate problems.

“This championship has been a little worse than I expected, but I know why. It’s not because of my accident but the problems I’ve having with the tyres.

“I’m just the same as I was before. I know that if everything had gone in the right direction, I would be fighting for the title.”

When asked about Massa in an interview with Spain’s AS newspaper, Alonso answered: “I think he is a very competitive driver, very fast, and not just in qualifying but also consistently in the race.

“Felipe is the toughest teammate I have had. Sometimes it was harder to beat Fisichella and Trulli, but I was not as good a driver back then.

“Hamilton was different, he came straight from GP2 at the same time we went from Michelin to Bridgestone, so he had tyres much like he had used in GP2. For sure he’s one of the best.

“In terms of talent, my current teammate (Massa) is one of the best,” insisted Alonso.

Jun.18 (GMM) Luca di Montezemolo has continued his sustained attack on formula one’s new teams.

The Ferrari president thinks the grid should be filled by the bigger teams fielding three cars, rather than by opening the doors to newcomers including Lotus, Virgin and HRT.

Next year, another small team is likely to make its debut.

Spain’s El Mundo newspaper this week claims that the budget of the new Spanish outfit HRT is ten times smaller than Ferrari’s.

“In modern F1 races cars with GP2 levels of performance shouldn’t be allowed to participate — they are supposed to race on Sunday mornings,” Montezemolo is quoted by Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Montezemolo argues that Fernando Alonso’s push for Montreal victory was ruined by the lapping of backmarkers, an apparent reference to his delays behind Jarno Trulli’s Lotus and the HRT of Karun Chandhok.

But while it is true that, earlier this year, the small teams were vastly off the pace, all of the six cars were faster by multiple seconds than the entire GP2 field in Turkey recently.

And in Canada last weekend, Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus qualified just two tenths behind the Ferrari-powered Sauber of Kamui Kobayashi, while Virgin and HRT runners were also easily within 107 per cent of the pole time.

The new teams’ laptime deficit in Canada was between 3 and 4 seconds, compared with Giancarlo Fisichella’s 2.2 second qualifying deficit in a Ferrari-powered Force India at the same circuit two years ago.

A report at Italiaracing said: “It should be noted that the only complaints this season about the smaller teams have come from Ferrari.”

Jun.9 (GMM)  As Ferrari bids to return to the pace, test driver Giancarlo Fisichella was at the wheel of the F10′s latest specification late last week.

On Thursday, the Roman conducted an aerodynamic test at Vairano, with the specific package to be raced at Montreal’s unique Circuit Gille Villeneuve this weekend.

However, the major upgrade is not due until the following Valencia round, with the Maranello based team confirming that in Canada the car will be in essentially “the same specification” as it was in Turkey two weeks ago.

At Istanbul Park, Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were notably off the pace.

“It’s quite unusual,” McLaren’s Jenson Button told the Toronto media at an event on Tuesday.

“They (Ferrari) had the perfect winter.  They were very quick, very consistent and very reliable and we were thinking, ‘Wow, those guys are going to be untouchable’.

“But they can come back.  They’re a very strong team, Fernando and Felipe have the experience.  You can’t ever count them out.  We never forget them,” added the reigning world champion.

Team boss Stefano Domenicali said Ferrari must avoid becoming downbeat about its situation.

“That would be no use when there are still two thirds of the season yet ahead,” he is quoted by the French language Canadian newspaper La Presse.

“We put a lot of energy into developing our F-duct and that may have delayed slightly other areas,” added Domenicali.

“Many things can change from race to race and we are certainly not lowering our heads and becoming downcast — that is for those who do not reach their goals, and that is certainly not the case with Ferrari.”

Luca di Montezemolo on Thursday revealed he resisted the urge to invite Michael Schumacher to play at a football game.

The seven time world champion is Ferrari’s most successful ever driver, winning five world championships during his 1996-2006 tenure.

But after retiring four years ago, the 41-year-old returned to the grid this year with Mercedes, and the tension between the German and his former camp has been obvious.

“We had beautiful years together and I gave him back his desire to race,” said Ferrari president Montezemolo, referring to the offer of a temporary seat last year to replace the injured Massa, which subsequently became a full return with a rival team.

“At times I miss Schumacher, he gave so much to Ferrari, but he also received a lot,” the Italian told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

He then referred to the forthcoming Partita Del Cuore charity football match, to be played in Modena early next week and featuring current Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Said Montezemolo: “A few days ago I was tempted to call him (Schumacher) to ask him to play for us.  But as the team carries the Ferrari name, I avoided it.”

(GMM)

May 7 (GMM)  Ferrari has in fact not decided whether to keep using its new full F-duct system for the remainder of the Spanish grand prix weekend.

It has been reported that, after a shakedown at Vairano in Giancarlo Fisichella’s hands and tests on the race cars at Barcelona on Friday, the downforce-spoiling system will stay on the F10 for qualifying and the race in Spain.

But Fernando Alonso, quicker than Massa throughout Friday and fourth fastest in the afternoon session, said a final decision will only be taken “this evening”.

“The system worked well but obviously, despite the fact we have tested it on various occasions, we still lack a bit of experience before we can get the best out of it,” he added.

May 5 (GMM)  Adrian Sutil now feels fully comfortable at Force India and is more prepared than before for success.

The 27-year-old German has been with the Silverstone based team since its days as Midland and Spyker, but he engaged in talks with rival teams prior to committing in 2010.

But Sutil told spox.com that he is “glad in hindsight that I extended the contract”.

“After four years, I have a great influence on the team.  In the first year with Spyker it wasn’t working out but today I feel very comfortable.”

Mid last year, the team’s Mercedes-powered car was very competitive at certain circuits, with his then teammate Giancarlo Fisichella performing strongly before switching to Ferrari.

Sutil admits he wasn’t ready to lead the team with a quick car.

“I was thrown into the deep end with a good car and didn’t know how to deal with the opportunity to have podium finishes.

“I often felt too much pressure and wanted things too quickly and as a result I made silly mistakes.

“It is a learning process and I have learned,” Sutil confirmed, after out-qualifying his current teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi on every occasion so far in 2010.

“I feel that as a driver, I have matured,” he added.

May 3 (GMM)  Giancarlo Fisichella was not the only F1 driver in action at the Vairano circuit in Italy last week.

While Ferrari reserve Fisichella was trying Ferrari’s updated F-duct solution and the Barcelona package, the other Italian based team Toro Rosso was also conducting an aerodynamic straight line test.

Swiss youngster Sebastien Buemi was at the wheel of the STR5.

“The aim was a bit more long-term, looking at developments for a bit later in the season,” he said on Monday.

The media focus in Barcelona this weekend will be more on Jaime Alguersuari, and Buemi applauds the 20-year-old Spaniard’s improvement in 2010.

“He has improved a lot and is much faster and therefore able to provide much better feedback,” said Buemi.  “This is entirely positive, as it means we can work together better to move the car forward.”

Team boss Franz Tost is also happy with Alguersuari’s progress since he replaced Sebastien Bourdais during last season.

“He discovered how much he had to learn and the level of commitment required to become a successful formula one driver.

“He was clever enough to understand this and therefore he put himself through a very intensive and disciplined testing and physical training programme and everyone in the team is impressed by his progress,” added Tost.

May 3 (GMM)  Robert Kubica has played down the latest reports linking him with the Ferrari team.

The Renault driver, a close friend of Fernando Alonso, was aboard the Italian team’s initial VIP flight out of Shanghai amid the volcanic ash air chaos.

The 24-year-old Pole was therefore in Italy in plenty of time to contest the 1000 Miglia rally in a Clio.

When asked if it is a sign he will be Alonso’s teammate in 2011, he tersely answered last week: “Sure, sure, sure.”

“I don’t see anything in the fact that my (travel) solution was because of the Scuderia,” Kubica wrote in his latest column for France’s Auto Hebdo.

In fact, also enjoying the exact same chartered Shanghai-Dubai-Nice route were the likes of Vitantonio Liuzzi and Jarno Trulli, as well as Ferrari’s Alonso, Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella, and others.

“It is rare that so many drivers are on the same plane, so it was pretty cool,” said Kubica.

May 2 (GMM) Giancarlo Fisichella on Saturday tested a refined version of Ferrari’s own F-duct solution.

The Italian team’s test and reserve driver was at Vairano, where what Ferrari described as the “management system for the blown rear wing” was run along with the entire Barcelona-spec package.

Ferrari said that “depending on how things go in the two free practice sessions next Friday, a decision will be taken as to whether or not to use all the updates for qualifying and the race”.

The updated F10 also features inboard rear mirrors, in accordance with the ban that kicks off in Spain next weekend.

Fernando Alonso told Corriere della Sera newspaper that he thinks Ferrari can catch F1’s pacesetter.

“Red Bull is stronger in qualifying and they are very fast, but we can catch up in the race. (And) McLaren knows how to develop its cars very fast, but we’re not joking either,” he said.

Ferrari confirmed the test in a press release:

Today, Italy and many other countries around the world have been celebrating May Day, but for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro there has been no respite in its efforts to prepare for the Spanish Grand Prix, the fifth round of the 2010 World Championship. After a very busy week of testing on the bench and in the wind tunnel, this morning saw the on-track baptism of the management system for the blown rear wing. It was tested at Vairano by Giancarlo Fisichella as part of the four days of aerodynamic testing allowed in the testing agreement, as defined by the twelve teams.

This was not the only new element evaluated by the Scuderia’s third driver. The F10 was also fitted with the aero configuration that it is planned will be used at the Catalunya Circuit during next Friday’s free practice for the Barcelona race, including a new position for the rear view mirrors which must now be located on the chassis. The chassis itself is also new, going by the code number 284: as from the Spanish Grand Prix, it will be used by Felipe Massa. Track data acquired today will be analysed by the team over the next few days and then, also depending on how things go in the two free practice sessions next Friday, a decision will be taken as to whether or not to use all the updates for qualifying and the race.

In what is the second week of testing at the at Jerez circuit, Sebastian Vettel completed the fastest lap in 1 minute, 19.055 seconds in his Red Bull, to finish nearly 1.3 seconds quicker than Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

With intermitent showers,Toyota test driver Kumui Kobayashi was third fastest, while Nico Rosberg of Williams and MMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica made the the top-five.

Giancarlo Fisichella who is going into his 14th season, set a best lap of 1:21.584 for Force India, and declared: “It’s very promising and I felt much more consistency, even under braking, and more stability in the high speed corners. We are not that far away from the other people so I am looking forward to tomorrow and another day with more laps where we can try to improve the car a little bit and concentrate on reliability.”

McLaren’s Pedro de la Rosa and Nelson Piquet Jr. of Renault completed the field. Toro Rosso and Honda were the only F1 teams not present at the track in southern Spain.